Cortland PE Connection in MD

Staying in contact with fellow alumni is so important for your professional careers especially when it comes to staying on top of the great things you accomplish. Remember that no one can build or promote outstanding PE programs for you. You will have to be your best JAG (Judge, Advocate, and General).

This online article highlights PE alumni Julie Provino (2006), Laura Barrett, Don Cleveland, Chris Acosta, Pat Colgan, and Elise Moscati. Thanks to Pat Colgan for forwarded this article from the Laurel Leader in Maryland. Keep the tips coming! Pat is currently teaching APE and coaching in the Prince Georges County Public Schools.

Provino new Laurel softball coach

By David Driver

ddriver@patuxent.com

Posted 12/04/08

Prep notebook

Call it the Cortland Connection. The new varsity softball coach at Laurel High is Julie Provino, who graduated from the State University of New York-Cortland.

Her assistant this spring will be Don Cleveland, another Cortland graduate. Provino replaces Chris Acosta, who also went to Cortland and was the Spartan coach for one year.

And Laura Barrett, who just completed her first season as the Laurel High girls soccer coach, is another product of the Division III school in upstate New York. Provino heard about the opening from Laurel baseball coach Bryan Harris, who went to Ithaca, an athletic rival of Cortland.

Provino, who attended high school at Mount Mercy Academy in Buffalo, was the junior varsity softball coach in 2008 at High Point High in Beltsville, where she was also the assistant cross country coach last fall.

"I want to build a more competitive program," Provino said. "There is more to softball than hitting and fielding the ball."

Provino recalls playing against the Laurel High junior varsity team last year and said the programs at High Point and Laurel are similar. She was named the Laurel head coach in late November and met recently with most of the players.

The Columbia resident said 24 players have expressed interest in playing softball this spring at Laurel. "That is a good number," said Provino.

Provino began playing softball when she was 5 and played on travel teams in western New York for several years. She played center field as a college freshman as Cortland advanced to the Division III World Series.

Provino then stopped playing softball to focus on academics: She graduated in 2006 with a bachelor's degree in physical education and is slated to receive her master's degree from Cortland this month. She teaches physical education at an elementary school in Lanham.

The New Yorker said it is not a coincidence so many Cortland graduates have landed teaching and coaching jobs in Prince George's County. Other Cortland grads with ties to High Point include Pat Colgan, who coaches both girls soccer and wrestling, and Elise Moscati, the first-year girls basketball coach.

Provino applied for the Laurel softball job when it opened prior to the 2008 season. The post went to Acosta, who recently moved out of the area after coaching at Laurel High.